When North Platte Community College Human Relations students Rachael Bassett, Shari Jones and Susan Svejkovsky were asked to complete a service learning project this semester it didn’t take them long settle on a plan.

“We wanted to help children overcome the traumatic experience of going to the Emergency Room,” said Bassett.

After renaming themselves “Team Booboo,” the trio began collecting a variety of children’s toys. They gathered enough balls, stuffed animals and other items to fill several large totes.

Team Booboo and class instructor Nadyne Crumly delivered the bins to the Emergency Room at Great Plains Regional Medical Center on June 28 with the request that one toy be given to each child who is seen in the ER.

“Our mission is to treat children with care and dignity,” said Bassett. “We believe children have the right to have a less frightening experience at the E.R. and we are committed to helping families provide a supportive environment for their children.”

“For many years now I have incorporated service-learning into the curriculum for Human Relations by organizing teams of students in class,” Crumly said. “They are assigned to design a simple service project that will help one or more people at NPCC, the college area, Nebraska, people in other states, or people at international locations.”

Crumly said she often sees her students apply concepts they study in textbooks and educational videos to their service-learning projects.

“They are testing and strengthening their ‘people skills’ while helping others,” she said. “They step outside the classroom to apply concepts and have fun while they are learning.”